Tennis: Kiwi faces tough draw

Michael Venus. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A tough contest for sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci, an intimidating match for New Zealander Michael Venus and an all-American duel between Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey are highlights of the Heineken Open draw released yesterday.

The No1 Brazilian player and ranked 37 in the world, Bellucci can count himself unlucky. He squares off against Portuguese No1 and 68th ranked Rui Machado. The top four seeds - David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco and Juan Ignacio Chela - go automatically to the second round, scheduled for Wednesday. Fifth seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa will meet a qualifier to be decided today.

Bellucci makes his fourth appearance in Auckland having reached the quarter-finals last year where he lost to fellow returning player Santiago Giraldo. He made two ATP semifinals in 2011 and beat three top 10 players - Verdasco, Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych.

The 24-year-old is not daunted by the draw: "I always feel comfortable playing here and I think I demonstrated that last year. I like arriving early to practise ahead of my first match because I lose too many matches in the first round on hard courts. This is a chance to get that right."

Bellucci's tennis is driven by a wider mission too.

"Brazil is 99 per cent about football when it comes to sport. It's hard for tennis players so I know how important it is to win. There was a certain amount of recognition when Guga [former world No 1 Gustavo Kuerten] was winning - he's an idol in Brazil - but too few players play at the highest level."

New Zealand top seed Michael Venus has drawn Giraldo. The Colombian lost to Ferrer last year in the semifinals and made his first ATP world tour final at home against Tommy Robredo. He's now ranked 55 in the world.

World No379, Venus practised with couple of Americans to get into the right mindset.

"I had a hit with seventh seed Donald Young and [fellow wildcard] Ryan Harrison. I practised with Ryan a lot in Florida and know him well so it's been good."

The third of the key first round match-ups features American wildcards Sam Querrey and Harrison. Querrey only got his wild card late after coming from the Chennai Open but was a finalist in 2009. At 19, Harrison is in demand as one of only two teenagers in the top 100. He is ranked 79th in the world.